Idiots Guide to Uninstall GWX?

Just to add my ten penneth I have encountered the same issue on 7 different windows 7 machines being offered the Windows 10 update. Several other friends and colleagues are all experiencing the same problems too. The machines slow down to a crawl and are virtually unusable. This is not a malware issue but directly related to Win 10. As said in an earlier post the cpu and memory usage go off the scale. Even when they are both normal it still is unusable as the system is busy using all your bandwidth downloading Win 10 upgrade in a temporary location them moving it to the hidden $Windows.~BT folder. Do bear in mind none of the machines have been set to "Reserve" the upgrade to be downloaded. Moreover windows update if you examine the history will show that it has already tried to install (and failed) multiple times. All without the permission of the PC owner. Today on one persons machine it was about to install itself automatically but for the 1st time was visible as an important update that could be hidden.

It is worth noting that if you still have problems it is likely to also be related to KB2952664.
Now this beast is the worst to get rid of and doesn't play by the rules. You cannot (despite advice you may read or be given) just uninstall then re-scan and hide this update. Sure do that but it will still re-install itelf endlessly forever. i have encountered this on multiple PCs so far and the only way to remove it was to remove all files related to it on the PC. That did involve taking ownership and altering permissions of system files and removing all associated entries from the registry. Without doing such it just kept coming back and grinding the PC to a standstill.

The associated updates that I had to remove were KB3035583, KB2952664, KB2990214, KB3021917 & KB3068708. But it was the KB2952664 that was the only one that couldn't be just uninstalled and subsequently hidden.

I know this thread is about the trials and tribulations around removing GWX. But if this process causes so much angst, why not just let the fix (or fixes) get installed and then disable GWX. If you don't intend to ever move to Win10 then you have installed some useless code, but it's not like that's the only Windows code you're never going to use. And if you are going to eventually move to Win10, then you just have to re-enable GWX.

I'm illiterate when it comes to Windows esoterica, but I had no trouble following the rules for disabling GWX.
Go to Task Scheduler.
Expand Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Setup
Select gwx
Change the status of the 2 displayed tasks (lauchtrayprocess and refreshgwxconfig) to "Disabled".

I did that and all evidence of GWX disappeared.

On one PC I re-enabled them and the GWX icon reappeared. (But I haven't tried using it yet.)

Is there some reason this technique is less beneficial than fighting to keep the associated maintenance off?

found this thread by search and just had to chip in...

I'm not in a lather over this, but I don't want it either. The fact that M$ pushed this on me, caused me to comb the web on how to kill it back. My win7 is already clogged enough, anyone with so much free time can search my stance and situation on that if they want, but I can summarize this by saying I run an older PC and don't have 32 gigs of ram to blow on bloatware. This box has 4gigs in it, is maxed out at that, and barely runs win7 some days. Yes the answer is a better PC, but that doesn't reduce the unnecessary crap that is forced on me... like GWX.

so I too, like some here, will uninstall, regedit, kill, delete or whatever until this latest piece of bloat dies... because it will get the same treatment that every piece of bloat I find on this box will... and that is instadeath or delete on sight... by the way, I went thru the task scheduler and found that many of the GWX stuff cannot be removed because I, the admin, do not have sufficient rights.

those are fighting words to me and with that, I am on the perma hunt for bloatware... I don't care if its free, I dun want it, it's likely in my way, it's likely why I randomly stare at this stupid spinning circle of inefficiency, waiting for it to give me my cursor back

whatttupG said:

... by the way, I went thru the task scheduler and found that many of the GWX stuff cannot be removed because I, the admin, do not have sufficient rights.

those are fighting words to me and with that, I am on the perma hunt for bloatware... I don't care if its free, I dun want it, it's likely in my way, it's likely why I randomly stare at this stupid spinning circle of inefficiency, waiting for it to give me my cursor back

Hoo boy! Wait 'til you get to Win10 where you don't have any way to identify maintenance you don't want, and don't have any option for opting out of the maintenance even if you could identify the maintenance you don't want. Mother Microsoft knows what's best, kiddies. Just eat what's put before you.

pokeefe0001 said:

I'm illiterate when it comes to Windows esoterica, but I had no trouble following the rules for disabling GWX.
Go to Task Scheduler.
Expand Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Setup
Select gwx
Change the status of the 2 displayed tasks (lauchtrayprocess and refreshgwxconfig) to "Disabled".

I did that and all evidence of GWX disappeared.

<sigh> Microsoft has made this technique more complicates (or maybe impossible). The latest reissue of KB3035583 has changed the scheduled tasks associated with GWX:

I'm going to try disabling all of them, but I'm not sure what will happen.

I doubt there is such an option. Microsoft really wants that fix installed. Since my last posting I restored using the restore point from before KB3035583 was installed, hid KB3035583 (along with KB2952664 which sounded like it was related) and reapplied the maintenance. I think every time Microsoft reissues KB3035583 it gets unhid so you have to check every time you apply maintenance. I would love to hear I'm incorrect because it's a real pain.